Diamond Tooth Taxidermy Blog:

Last July two brothers brought me a pair of rattlesnakes that they'd caught together hunting near Philadelphia. Don't tell them but this was only my second snake job, after a tragically botched one 3 years ago. I accepted the commission in a very casual way and it didn't occur to me until the snakes were in my possession that I needed to exercise extreme caution in handling them since I could easily puncture my finger on a fang and be on the receiving end of a posthumous, deadly, venomous snake bite.

Both rattlers looked very similar but I think I've managed to separate the two in these photos; the first few shots are a smaller, slightly darker one, and the larger, lighter one is pictured after the carcass/meat images.

The tails are really fun, I wish I'd been able to keep one for myself to wear somehow. They sound great.

So, about that venom. Did you think I would let such potent stuff go to waste?

After doing some research I became completely fascinated by snake venom and its applications; I found a story about a man who has been injecting himself with venom for years and swears on its health benefits. I also found some sketchy information about a high end luxury anti-aging cream that had (synthetic) snake venom in its base. Apparently it acts as a topical Botox. I have the venom in a little vial in my freezer; who knows what I'll actually do with it.

I also learned that a snake can still bite and kill a human even after its head has been severed, and that its heart will beat after being pulled out of it's body. What tenacious, ferocious creatures. It inspires pride in being born in the Snake Year.

Of course I wouldn't let that meat go to waste either. After the plethora of critters I have eviscerated for food prep, I find snakes to be the quickest and easiest. It's literally as simple as just puling the intestines like a loose yarn on a sweater.

I marinated the meat in whiskey, honey and ginger chunks for about a day.

Lucky me, I was invited to a BBQ that evening and I got to throw that snake on the grill and share it with a bunch of folks. A pleaser, even if it was a lot of work to chew around those millions of ribs.

Next began the arduous process of altering the foam mannequins to accommodate the skin and positioning desired by the clients. Hours of cutting, gluing, filing, sanding, measuring, test fitting, measuring again, etc.

And then presto! A couple of mounted rattlesnakes.

I ran into a couple of issues with the seams, but aside of that I'm quite pleased with the work.

The positioning was very challenging to me since it required a good deal of twisting the skin. Here's a secret- It's easy to hide a wrinkle in furry mounts, because it's covered in fur. Not so with reptile skin. Fortunately snake skin is tough and just requires a little patience and finesse.